


Deception

by Mattecat



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 10:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8574856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattecat/pseuds/Mattecat
Summary: When the board that funds his research sends someone to his lab, Zero has to come up with a convincing reason as to why Newton isn't there.





	

**Author's Note:**

> "hey carter want to do a pokévillains writing prompt challenge for november"
> 
> "yes, but I'm going to post each prompt a month late, and randomize the characters appearing in each fic"
> 
> "haha what"
> 
> I'm not actually randomizing the characters for each fic (or for any fic), but for this fic, the characters I chose were from a previous randomized ship, though this fic is not at all shipping. anyway, here's Spark from Pokémon Go and Zero from the 11th movie (Giratina and the Sky Warrior).

Zero got the message from their – from _his_ funders with no prior warning. _Dr. Graceland: We're sending over Spark, one of our researchers, at 2:00 PM today. Make sure you and your assistant are prepared._

He had to act fast: he couldn't let his funders know that Newton was no longer overseeing their research on the Reverse World. Newton hadn't even been inside the lab for over a year; who knew where he had ran off to, after the screaming fight they had? Zero didn't know.

Well, no. Zero knew _exactly_ where Newton had gone, and the knowledge that he was _there,_ alone in that beautiful world – Zero could feel that knowledge eating away at him inside. But he couldn't think about that now. This "Spark" person was going to be at the lab that afternoon, and he had to come up with an explanation for why Newton wasn't there.

He thought hard about it while cleaning up scattered printouts, dusting off Newton's unused desk, shooing his magnemite out of the building, and otherwise making the lab look presentable. When the doorbell rang, he nearly jumped out of his skin. "Just a second!" he called out, hastily throwing on a lab coat over his regular clothes. He knew nothing about Spark other than the name – what would this researcher be like?

Spark, as it turned out, was a tall, pale man with spiky blonde hair who looked to be around Zero's own age, standing at the door with a big grin on his face. Zero looked him over; he wasn't wearing clothes typical of a lab researcher. No, Spark had a orange shirt, a black jacket with yellow stripes, orange gloves, and tight black pants, wearing a pendant of an unfamiliar insignia on a necklace.

He stuck out his hand in greeting. "Hey!" he said. "I'm Spark, one of Professor Willow's researchers! You're Doctor Graceland's assistant, right?"

Zero stared at him for a long moment. "Yes," he finally said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "My name is Zero. I'm afraid Newton isn't here right now, he spent the night in the Reverse World and I have no way of contacting him. I don't know when he'll be back."

"Hey, that's cool! I mean, I was looking forward to meeting him, but this was short notice, wasn't it?" Spark laughed, keeping his hand extended. "You two must be really busy with your research, aren't you? It's just the two of you, right?"

Zero's heart pounded. "That is correct. There are two of us."

Spark finally seemed to realize that Zero had no intention of shaking his hand, and let his arm drop to his side. "Alright! So let's take a look at what you've been doing! Mind showing me around?"

Zero thought about sending him away with the excuse that he was too busy with his – with their research, but that might only raise suspicion. Better to give Spark a little show so he could go back to the funders and assure them their money was being put to good use. "Come in," he said, stepping out of the way.

Spark kept staring at everything in the first room with wide eyes, like a kid in a candy store. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, Zero thought. A couple computers, a desk for Zero, a desk for Newton – they didn't even have offices to themselves, for God's sake. At least, Zero didn't. Newton had one, but he had never used it, and Zero used it now for storage. "We mostly process the data here," he said. "That's what most of my – most of our work is. We take frequent trips into the Reverse World to do study there, but it's very difficult to find access points."

"That's so cool," said Spark. "Like, I read some of Doctor Graceland's papers – your papers, too – but _dang_ _._ How do you even get in at all?"

"It's very difficult," Zero repeated. "In this area, a rare portal will open on its own – I've theorized that the boundary between the real world and the Reverse World is weaker here – but the vast majority of the time, we're left to track Giratina and enter through the portals it leaves behind."

"Wow," Spark breathed. "Any idea why the boundary's weaker here?"

Zero shrugged. "Giratina is far more active in this area – Veilstone, Lake Valor, Gracidea Valley – than it is other places," he said. "That's our only lead. It could be that the more active Giratina is in one place, the weaker the boundary is, but we don't know that for sure."

Spark grinned. "You must have worked really hard at this!" he said. "How old are you, anyway? You're not even thirty yet, right?"

Zero frowned. "I don't see how my age is relevant," he said.

"Well, you're smart! I mean, you gotta be, to do this stuff, but like – I told you, I read your papers. The ones you published before your dimensional work, too."

"You _what?_ " Zero was more surprised than anything else.

"Yeah! I mean, some of them, anyway. You're not exactly the easiest person to search for online!" Spark laughed. "But yeah, I read some of your work on artificial intelligence – I know this is taking up like, all your time, but have you done anything on that lately?"

Zero blinked. "I didn't think our funders would be interested in that," he said. "They're not funding my pet projects, after all."

Spark's grin grew even wider. "So you do have something?"

There was something off about this whole situation. "Why were you sent here, Spark?"

His grin vanished in an instant. "It's nothing that bad. I mean, I won't tell them anything bad. I think you're doing great work here, you deserve to see it through to the end."

Zero glared at him. "Why were you sent here, Spark."

Spark averted his gaze. "Doctor Graceland hasn't sent in any reports lately," he said. "The board thinks he's hiding something. So they told me to check up on you two before they send the next grant, but… I know what they really want."

"They want to cut my – our funding." Zero was barely able to catch himself in time.

"Well… yeah."

No. No! This couldn't be happening, the Megarig was barely even halfway done, he needed more time! Zero's eye twitched, and he gritted his teeth.

"Don't worry!" Spark said quickly. "I'm gonna tell them everything's fine, 'cause like… I know what it's like to have no one believe in your research, to think it's not important, or that it's going nowhere, or that –"

Zero held up a hand to stop him and took a deep breath. Nothing had happened yet. The board had never liked his and Newton's research, had always thought it was a waste of time and money. This wasn't even the first time they had threatened to cut their funding. But back them, it hadn't been Zero, alone.

"Tell me what to do," he said. "What does the board want from me?"

"They want Doctor Graceland to send in his missed reports, but… you know how they are, they did the same thing with me, too. You guys can probably delay them for a month or two, but they're pretty set on their decision. You…" Spark winced. "You might have to find other funders."

"The hell are we gonna get other funders?" Zero shook his head. "Fine. Thank you for your honesty, Spark. We'll deal with this… somehow."

He could impersonate Newton easily enough and write the reports himself, but if they really only had another month or two… the Megarig would have to have some budget cuts, because there was no way he would be able to find other funders without Newton. That was… fine. He would be careful with his money, he would find alternate ways of getting what he wanted. He would surpass every obstacle this filthy world placed in his way, until there was nothing standing between him and Giratina.

"Hey, don't worry," Spark was saying. "My professor, he's on your side, too. He was the one who sent me instead of… I dunno, someone else. No one believed in my research, either. It's good you and Newton have each other."

Zero forced a smile. "Absolutely," he said. "I don't know what I would do without him."

Spark left shortly afterwards. He wasn't the least bit suspicious of how Newton had never shown up. Zero looked him up online when he was gone, finding a number of papers about pokémon eggs. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Zero doubted that Spark really understood what it was like to be cast out from the realm of "real science," to be viewed on the level of cult leaders and conspiracy theorists. Nobody else had ever understood.

At least he was nice enough to warn him of the board's plans. There was still a shred of decency left in the real world.

But not enough to make him stay. Zero closed the tab with Spark's papers and opened up his budget for the Megarig. Never enough to make him stay.


End file.
